I always like finding new artists and recently, a few columns under the M32 have become a bit of a playground for Typo, so expect to see a few posts in coming days from this artist.
Typo’s work is certainly rather different and is largely abstract in form, often accompanied by quite a lot of political or philosophical text. This colourful piece however has no words, other than the artist’s name cleverly incorporated into the overall design. Watch this space for a whole load more.
The Bristol street art scene simply wouldn’t be what it is without the metronomic consistency of artists like Face 1st. These artists provide the foundations upon which all other artists build their works and reputations, but without this underground culture, street art would likely struggle in the city. Just look at those towns which have no culture of graffiti or street art and then host a festival, the legacy although stunning dies off and appears to be fake. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing street art wherever it is, but people like Face 1st provide an authenticity that you simply can’t replicate through commissions alone.
This is a revisiting of one of Face 1st’s favourite themes, a girl’s laughing face with a hairdo made out of the word FACE. Lovely colours, nicely painted and everything I would want it to be.
A timely commentary piece from John D’oh, that is rightly sceptical about our ability to face up to the challenges of climate change, when we can’t even keep our rivers clean. As somebody who has spent more than half my working life on protecting rivers and river-based recreation, it is a pity that our rivers are still subjected to the most terrible pollution, but on the other hand, we must recognise the huge improvements that have occurred since the 1980s when Britain was referred to as the ‘dirty man of Europe’. I fear, for a host of reasons, that the phrase may once again be used to describe our nation as we continue to prioritise company profits over environmental outcomes.
The single-layer stencil from John D’oh features Brian Cox (I think) pondering whether “COP26 is going to be like our rivers… full of shit”. I sincerely hope not, and we must all rally round this conference as best we can to push forward better outcomes for our planet. The hard work begins now, and it will be up to citizens to demand more from their governments, but also to take personal responsibility for modifying their own behaviours. Less talk, more doing.
A thought-provoking stencil piece – thank you, John D’oh.
This lovely collaboration on the M32 roundabout took me a little while to unravel, although once unravelled it is blindingly obvious. To the left is a very ‘Haka’ Haka piece and the right hand side is a blended collaboration between Logoe and Sepr.
I probably haven’t posted nearly as many Haka pieces as I should have over the years, and might need to do a bit of digging in my archives to get a few more out there. This is a simple but joyful piece of writing from Haka with the ever-present shout out to CK1 RIP.
The Logoe/Sepr mash up is simply brilliant, and the second recent piece in a burst from Logoe who appears to have woken from a long slumber. The letters are by Logoe in his unique script style and the writing isn’t his usual message or lyric, but the year spelled out. The fills are beautifully done and colours reflective of the time of year. Sepr has contributed a face and hand into the mix and as a whole it works really well. This must have been a fun session.
As mentioned recently, Stivs has been absolutely smashing it recently, and this pair of pieces, on either side of the entrance to St Werburghs tunnel, is a wonderful recent addition to his expanding repertoire.
To the left as you enter the tunnel is a fine bright greeting ‘good morning’ with dawn colours in the background. Cheerful and revitalising. This contrasts with the piece opposite.
To the right is the ‘good night’ piece in black writing, set on a sunset background. The two complementary pieces are a perfect pair and a creative way of painting this particular spot. There seems to be no limit to Stiv’s ambition and energy at the moment, and that is a good thing.
On the wall adjacent to the recent Irony piece that I posted last week is this Upfest 21 contribution from John Curtis, a well-known Bristol artist who seems to be as comfortable painting large walls as he is with his canvasses.
John Curtis’s USP is recreating Bristol urban landscapes, full of movement and light and chiming with locals because the subjects are usually familiar landmarks. This piece beautifully captures the M Shed and the old cranes that stand to attention on the harbourside.
This sight would warm the hearts of any native of the city and is beautifully captured. A fine contribution to the 75 walls in 75 days event.
This leaves me with only three more pieces to post from Upfest’s 75×75. Two of them I know about, but haven’t yet been able to photograph, but the last one evades me, so I am going to have to do some detective work before I can complete the whole set.
What you see is what you get from Merny (Morny). This is a fun piece painted in his illustrative style that contains little lines and points as if it were a set of instructions for an Airfix model or a diagram in a Haynes Manual.
In this piece it would appear that a story is unfolding of a nuclear family having a day out. ‘Dad’ is chilling and drinking a beer. ‘The kids’ are calling out “wait for me Linda!” And Linda (or mum) or dad are going on about parallel parking. I suspect that Merny based the concept on a real life event, but I have no evidence for that. All good fun though and wonderfully animated and vibrant.
This wonderful portrait piece by Rosalita (Rozalita) is part of a collaborative effort with Conrico. Unfortunately, by the time I got to see it, Conrico’s contribution had been overpainted with a rather substandard throw up. Luckily, though, Rosalita’s piece was left intact.
This is a Halloween piece, or more accurately a Dia de Los Muertos portrait, with a representation of a Mammacita (Conrico’s word, not mine). The decorated face with stitched lips is a familiar sight these days, as these Day of the Dead festivals become more internationalised. The roses in the hair round the portrait off nicely. Rosalita just keeps on turning out these amazing portraits.
Although I haven’t posted much from Turow for a while, he is still churning out his work pretty regularly and switching it up as he goes along, as you can see from this rather different stylised block writing piece.
Looking like ancient monuments on the lean, these large golden letters with a pink border certainly stand out, and the white line and shimmer across the top of the letters helps to create a nice 3D illusion. Some interesting little blobs across the bottom add a stylish finishing touch. Another one for the gallery.
Recently, at the top end of City Road, there has been a whole bunch of new painting going on for the launch of Stoked Food, an ethical food outlet in Stokes Croft. Among the wonderful fresh new pieces is this quirky piece from one of my favourite artists, Maesyhook.
Perhaps better known for her Kawaii style, this is something altogether a little more surreal from Maesyhook. The portrait, in black and white, looking like a giant stencil, is overshadowed by a large cloud with an eye and shedding pink raindrops and fork lightening. The purple heart choker just adds an element of interest. Unusual, quirky and fun.
Natural adventures 